Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Houston to host Hogs and Frogs
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas will face an old foe in a familiar setting in Texas to end its threeyear postseason drought.
The Razorbacks (3-7) will take on former Southwest Conference rival TCU (6-4) in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston on Dec. 31.
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman, the first head Hog to lead the program to a bowl game in his first season since Houston Nutt guided the 1998 team to the Citrus Bowl, said the experience in Houston will bring great value.
“You take the Hog brand down there, and I think Arkansas is well received in Houston and for that matter in the state of Texas,” Pittman said. “Obviously you help yourself more in recruiting if you win the game, and so certainly we’ll put all our efforts into doing that.”
The Hogs and Horned Frogs split a pair of games in 2016-17, with each winning at the other’s home stadium. The Razorbacks outlasted No. 15 TCU 41-38 in double overtime on Austin Allen’s 5-yard touchdown run to end the game at TCU’s Amon Carter
The next season, No. 23 TCU stymied the Arkansas offense in a 28-7 win at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Sept. 9 in former coach Bret Bielema’s final season.
The Razorbacks drubbed Texas 31-7 in their only appearance in the Texas Bowl in 2014, a game in which Pittman was serving as Arkansas offensive line coach for the second of three seasons.
“It was such a great bowl, great venue,” Pittman said. “So we’re really excited to go back down there and be a part of that bowl once again.”
TCU Coach Gary Patterson, in his 21st season as the coach and with the second-longest tenure at his current school in the FBS, said his program loves Houston.
“A lot of Frogs are in Houston, so we have a lot of alumni and do a lot of recruiting down there,” Patterson said. “We’ve played some good games in that stadium, so I don’t expect this one to be much different.”
Pittman, a graduate of Pittsburg (Kan.) State, and Patterson talked about their mutual respect during a Zoom call with reporters Sunday evening.
“He’s a Pittsburg State grad and I coached there,” Patterson said, referencing his one-year stint in 1988. “He also was on the Northern Illinois staff when we played them in a bowl game out in San Diego.
“But I really like watching from afar. I’ve really liked how he’s come in and how they’ve done things at Arkansas this year. I judge a coaching staff by how the kids play. The kids play hard.
“So they played really hard this year and the recruiting will take care of itself. That’s always a good start, and everything his kids say about him.”
Said Pittman: “I think he’s a wonderful person and a heck of a football coach. You can see by the way his players play for him and for the staff they have. I’ve known different guys that I coached with that coached with Coach Patterson. Several. There’s certainly mutual respect between he and I and it goes as far back as Kansas.”
The closest affiliation between the programs comes from Arkansas cornerbacks coach Sam Carter, a prep player in Houston and AllBig 12 safety for the Horned Frogs who started 39 games between 2011-14 and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior.
“He was a coach on the field for us,” Patterson said. “I knew he needed to go away and learn other things. But he’s a great leader, he’s a great role model and he’s a great teacher.
“He always was even a great recruiter for us as a player. I think he brags about being undefeated, so he’s one of my sons. He was very close to my family, so Sam Carter is a guy we think very well of in the Patterson house.”
Carter, 30, worked in defensive quality control and was an analyst for Barry Odom’s staff at Missouri from 2016-19, then nabbed his first full- time on- field job with the Razorbacks, working in the secondary with the defensive coordinator Odom.
“Sam’s just mature, honestly beyond his age,” Pittman said. “He’s a guy that you feel like he’s 35 or 40 years old and he’s obviously not. He’s a great recruiter, a relentless recruiter. Works very hard, and his players have great respect for it.
“But in the interviewing process, I knew I was getting a … if he could recruit, because obviously he hadn’t really done much of that as far as on the road and things like that. I knew I had me something special with him.”
The Razorbacks are expected to get in three practices the coming week on today through Wednesday before breaking for Christmas. Pittman said the plan is for players to return Sunday for covid-19 testing, then get in four practices — including a walk-through — before the 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Hogs and Frogs will be playing in the final game on New Year’s Eve prior to a big day of football on Jan. 1.
“That being the last game, it’s going to be pretty cool,” Pittman said. “There might be a lot of people in the second half that it might be blurry to them and all that kind of stuff, but it should be … it’s the last game, you’re going to have a large audience. It’s going to be kind of neat.”
According to a UA release, seating capacity at NRG Stadium will be limited and tickets will not be available through the Razorback Ticket Center. Fans interested in attending the Texas Bowl should visit MercariTexasBowl.com/ Tickets or call (832) 667-2390 for information.